Love like Oxygen
by Josellie
Summary: A love so thinkable even they don't know it. Join Lily as she journeys through school. At first everyone treats her as the perfect flower she is. but once fifth year starts shes not so sure it true anymore. All because a certain Malfoy decides he wants in at her life. She realizes he is the breath of fresh air she needs everyday. But what will her family think.


"Come on! Hurry up hurry up! We're going to be late!" Lily Luna potter weaved her tiny body through the crowd of bustling students around the Hogwarts express.

"Could you calm down Lil! We still have twenty minutes." James said trying to keep up with his too excited sister. "Just be happy you're not carrying all your own stuff." He complained trying not to crash into people with his cart full of his and Lily's stuff. "Come on Albus hurry up." The trio snaked through the crowd of students and parents trying to get onto the train. Their parents trailing not far behind them.

"She doesn't even know where she's going! How does she know where to lead us so we can drop off our stuff?" Albus called ahead to his brother.

"She's probably mapped out and memorized this whole place before she left." James snorted and rushed to find his sister. "Was I this excited my first year?" He questioned out loud though it was mostly just for him. Lily knowing exactly where to go from two years of standing with her parent waving good bye, stood by the storage compartment. She waited for her family to catch up with her. James was the first to reach her. He left the cart next to her and nearly collapsed onto the floor.

"What do you have in there?" He panted. "Bricks?!" He stood with his hands o n his knees. It wasn't until Albus caught up did he straighten up and helped to put the trunks into the compartment. They stood in an empty place surrounded by fellow peers. Their parents found them. They each received a long tight hug from both their parents.

"Hey Albus remember no more sneaking in food to class. I'll sew your pockets shut next time I hear from your professors about it." Ginny said sternly to her son. "And you better look after Lily! Help her on her homework when she needs it, ok." She looked at him expecting an answer.

"Please mom, from the way Lily had been studying, Albus will be coming to her for help." He ruffled Albus's hair affectionately and half-hugged Lily with his other arm. "And don't worry; I'll look after Lily when Albus forgets to in the next hour or so." Harry smiled at his children. He thought of how much easier his childhood would have been if he had siblings. He was thankful that Lily had two older brothers to protect her. At least now he won't have to worry too much. He wrapped his arm around his wife and the other around his children. He pulled them in for a group hug. They stood in their embrace for a few long seconds.

"Ok you can let go of us now."

Harry smiled. "Albus in a few weeks you're going to wish this hug lasted longer." Harry responded while breaking the hug. "You guys better get in the train, before all the compartments get filled." They walked over to a door and climbed in. Lily first then Albus. Before James could climb in Harry pulled him aside. "Remember what I said about Lily, you make sure she sits with the right crowd on that train." He stared intently in to his son's identical eyes. "Uncle Charlie taught her a few spells for when she gets into fights ok. Make sure she never uses them."

"Yeah dad I got it." He chuckled silently "Make sure she sits with the right people? Really dad? I know you just mean don't let her sit with Malfoy or something."

"Ok now get out of here." He gestured towards the train. James hugged him one more time and ran onto the train where he met Lily and Albus waiting for him. Albus led the way looking for an empty compartment. Lily noticed a door open ahead of them and three young boys walked out. One of them had short military cut black hair and dark almost black eyes. The other had light brown hair with hazel eyes. The one the middle had hair so blond it looked white and stone cold gray eyes that could kill you like medusa. None other than Malfoy and his crew she thought. James pushed her to one side toward the compartments and held tightly onto her shoulder. She looked up at him but he didn't meet her eyes and stared straight ahead to where they wear walking.

"Potter." His voice was as cold as his eyes and he started at Albus with a face full of hate. They stopped in front of each other. James's grip tightened. And this time when she looked up he met her eyes.

"Malfoy." Albus starred straight into his harsh eyes and his hand fled to his pocket where his wand was.

"Why is that every time I see you, you're with your filthy mud blood siblings. Don't you have other friends? And don't you dare start naming your cousins, they can't as your friends, they barely count as wizards." Albus opened his mouth to say something but was cut off. "And who's this?" He questions looking at Lily. "Another one if the Weasely's devils spawn. She'll make a lovely maid when she grows up." Albus moved to whip his wand out of his pocket, but Lily beat him to it. She broke out of James's grip and held out her wand high enough to reach his neck. He barely flinched but still stared at the little girl confused at her courage.

"You can't say things like that! My family is just as much wizards as you are! Y-you apologize right now!"

He raised an eyebrow at the little girl. "Oh I'm so frightened." Malfoy said acting distressed. "She'll definitely make Gryffindor." He spoke to James and Albus who stood next to me. She felt their eyes on her. Malfoy whispered something to his friends and began laughing to themselves. Though Lily's courage began to quickly leave her body she didn't move her wand. She didn't want him to know she was actually very intimidated. "Bet you can't do it love." He teased after he stopped laughing. How did he know? She thought but she still didn't lower her wand. They stood there for a few more seconds. He smirked. "I knew it." He started to turn around and before Lily knew it she yelled the first spell that popped in her head. She felt the power in her words wave through her body and into her wand. The true power showed in the spell when it hit Malfoy square in the back. He yelped and face planted into the floor. She quickly dropped her wand and covered her mouth. What did she just do?

"What did you just do?" One of his friends repeated. They bent down to Malfoy's limp body. They tried to lift him up to his feet as heard him whimper.

"I-I..." She tried to form words but it didn't happen. She didn't really think it would work but somehow it did and she was in big trouble. She remembered that James and Albus were still standing next to her astonished that she could mange such a spell without practicing. James picked up her wand behind her and shoved it into her hand. The trio turned around toward the way they came. They had a hard time walking because somewhere during the fight the train had started. She walked next to James with his arm around her. Some compartment doors opened to see where the spell shouting came from. James thingy back to what just happened. There was no doubt in his mind that he would be taking the lecture instead of lily. She might think she's in trouble but he knew who would really be in trouble. They found a compartment that was empty luckily. They sat inside. For the first few minutes they sat in silence. "Am... Am I going to get in trouble?" Lily questioned

"Well..." Albus started. But James cut him off.

"No. You'll be ok, it wasn't your fault."

"But it wasn't out of self defense, he turned to walk away, lily was the one who said the spell." James started at Albus while he talked. His eyes told him to shut up. They wouldn't hear the end of this when they arrived at Hogwarts.

The great hall was in fact... Great Lily thought as she walked through the Erin with the other first years. She walked beside her cousin Hugo; his face showed the same wonder she was feeling. Then the sorting started. A witch pulled out an old raggedy hat, she concluded this with was probably professor McGonagall. She called out names and the student would get up and place the hat on their head while sitting in a stool. The hat was probably saying things to them that Lily couldn't hear. She was sad to notice that the names were being said in alphabetical order of their last names. She would have to wait close to the end. Finally her names were called.

"Potter, Lily!" She walked to front and climbed the few steps to the stool. She placed the hat on her head and looked for her family at the Gryffindor table they smiled and waved at her when she found them.

The hat began to talk. "Ahh, another Weasley, Oh a bit of Potter in there too great qualities of a Slytherin I sense. Lots of intelligence would make a perfect raven claw as well. But courage is overwhelming all my senses at the moment. Shall I place you in Gryffindor with your family?" She smiled at that comment. "But you will go far with Slytherin… mm very hard. I guess it will have to be... Gryffindor!" She smiled with delight ad sauntered over to where her cousins sat while the rest of the table erupted in applause. She sat next to James as he and the rest of her family patted her on her back. She smiled at them and looked around the room. She saw Hugo standing next to where she was standing earlier, waiting for his name to be called. Her vision switched to looking at the other tables. Behind her she recognized the colors of the disappointed Ravenclaws, who were upset became I because once again they diet receive a Weasley. And the colors of Hufflepuff who paid her no attention. She turned around at the Slytherin table. She met the cold eyes of Scorpius Malfoy. His lip curved into a fake smile that she swore could have been translated into "We'll meet again, I'll get you back."

Later Hugo had been sorted into Gryffindor as well and sat next to her, a smile plastered on his face. She noticed the hall grow quiet and looked up to headmaster Longbottom as he prepared to talk. After his small speech an abundance of food lined the middle of the table. She dug in right when the smell hit her nose and she remembered how hungry she was. All the events of that morning soon disappeared from her thoughts.

She didn't remember falling asleep last night. But right when she remember exactly where she was. In her very own four post bed in the Gryffindor girl dorms. She got up quickly and saw her cousin Dom's bed next to her. It looked early in the morning but she didn't care. She climbed out of bed and jumped onto her cousin.

"Wake up! Wake up!" she yelled into her ear. "Rise and shine sleepy head!" She waited a few seconds to see if her yelling had disrupted her cousin's sleep. She didn't move even a bit. "Come on!" she yelled. She must have said it too loud because a giant pillow rammed into her head. She looked to where it came from. A first year she didn't recognized was starring at her with disgust.

"Pleeease go back to sleep.' She complained. Lily starred back at her. She seemed familiar. She thought to where she could have seen her before. "And give me back my pillow." Did she see her at Diagon Alley? Perhaps she had seen her on the train or sat near her at the sorting banquet. Lily couldn't put her finger on it, it was sure going to bother her throughout the day. "Heellooo!"

Lily snapped back into reality. "I-I.. Huh?" she honestly didn't hear the girl talking. She looked at the girl for an answer. She seemed so familiar but she couldn't pinpoint who it was. The girl had dark brown hair, the same for her eyes. She had definitely seen her before.

"Umm… my pillow please?"

"Oh, yeah… here." She threw the pillow back to the girl.

"Well I guess it's time to get up now." Lily looked down to where the voice came. Her cousin had finally woken up. She began to get up. Together they got changed and gathered their supplies for their first two periods. They woke up Rose and by the time they were all done the rest of the dormitory was awake. Before they left lily looked back to the girl she spoke to's bed. She was gone. Guess she would never figure out who she was. On the way to the hall for breakfast she asked one of her fellow cousins if they knew her. They both shook their heads and they walked to the hall engaged in a conversation Lily didn't want to be part of. She ate her breakfast and laugh along with her family when they started telling jokes. When she arrived at her first class she saw the girl and walked over quickly to the seat next her and sat down.

"Hi, I'm Lily." The girl looked up and gave a small forced smile.

"Sorry about this morning, I'm always cranky in the morning." The girl said to her. "I'm Meredith Zanbini." When lily heard that last name she immediately knew where she remembered her from. The boy standing next to Malfoy on the train was also a Zanbini. She thought of him in her head and looked to Meredith next to her. She was astonished at the similarities between him and his sister. Meredith must have known what she was thinking. "Yeah I have an older brother, Duanne." She spoke. "He told me about you on the train. You have some real guts pointing your wand at Malfoy." Just then their professor walked in and greeted his class. She listened attentively for the rest of the time. At all her other classes she sat next to Meredith, they worked together and talked about their likes and things they did. Slowly they got to know each other better. By the end of the year they were inseparable.

Before they left for summer they exchanged addresses so they could both try the muggle mail system which they were both curious about. During the summer they tried sending the letters but were disappointed to see that it would take a week for the other to receive the letter. So they went back to having their owls carry their letters. There was no doubt in both their minds that next year they would still be friends.


End file.
